Could they possibly get a court order granting them the patents? 5 Answers as of November 30, 2010

The court is ruling that I am an omitted spouse and entitled to distribution of the estate along with his two kids so that is 1/3 of the estate which my late is 51% owner of an LLC company that they want to sell. My husband also has grape patents. My lawyer is now trying to get me to sign away my 3rd of the estate because they said they want to settle, but I think that means I am now the owner of the patents, and without the patent they sell the company. I want to keep the patents, but I do not know much about the company all I know is that it is worldwide. What should I do?

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What is a "grape" patent [you said your husband had a grape patent]? You stated that "they" want to sell the LLCwho is "they"the children? I am having difficulty understanding your question, so I recommend that you contact me or another patent attorney so that we may understand the facts sufficiently in order to provide an answer which will hopefully be of some use to you.

Indeed, the patents could be worth a lot of money and you might have some ownership to the patents as a part owner of the LLC. It's best to ask your attorney and in case there's a trust issue between you and your attorney, you should contact another attorney to determine what your rights are with respect to the patents.

Oh my goodness, there are so many issues here, including breadth of the claims and other factors that could contribute to determining the value of the patent. The patent could be anywhere from very valuable, to not valuable at al. There are also numerous corporate and estate law issues. The bottom line here is that any good decision is going to be very fact dependent, so you really owe it to yourself to get an attorney that know what he/she is doing in those areas. I can say that patents are national in scope. If there is only a U.S. patent, then the coverage is only for making, using selling, importing and exporting with respect to the U.S.

This is really a question dealing with a question of inheritance. The individual asking the question should consult with her attorney on the inheritance question. If the patents are held by the estate because the decedent held them personally, they are personal property and would be treated like any other item of personal property. I would expect that the probate court could make a ruling on their disposition, but this is not an area where I work and counsel that specializes in such matters should be consulted.

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